Regret and Madness
by Ysavvryl
Summary: Halloween special one-shot.  After the crash of the Eurasia Space Colony, no one expected the next Maverick conflict to come so soon.  Condensed/altered version of X6.


_Three weeks ago, Sigma unleashed a viral outbreak more widespread than ever before. He set the Eurasia colony on a collision course with Earth. Only the actions of the Maverick Hunter Zero prevented a full force impact. And it was Zero who sacrificed himself to make sure that X defeated Sigma despite the Maverick Leader's trickery. Still, the remains of the space colony scorched the Earth's surface, unleashing a toxic atmosphere that drove humans and reploids underground. So much life was lost… the air has finally cooled enough for pollution levels to be measure. Reploids have begun work to contain and neutralize the damage._

_But the one who made the sacrifice may not be dead…_

_-adapted from the MMX collection manual on X6_

Zero had read through the first few news articles on the Eurasia incident. Now he was just skimming the more recent ones. It was all that was in the news. To think that he could only move this tragedy from 'complete annihilation' to ''extreme destruction' was hard to accept. If you went all the way to put your life on the line for the sake of the world, shouldn't some miracle occur to help alleviate the burden? But miracles like that didn't happen.

And if he was the seed that started it all, shouldn't he have remained dead?

The door opened behind him. Zero could see in a reflection of the screen that it was Dr. Gate. He and his assistant Isoc had been the ones to somehow recover him and repair him in such short notice. That he was working as decently as he was, it was quite the marvel. It had take six months after he self-destructed back in the first Maverick War before he was running at top capacity again. This was just three weeks.

Granted, he hadn't completely blown up like that first time. This time, his legs had been cut off, as had his right arm, there had been a hole in his torso somewhere, and what had been left of his armor wouldn't have been able to take another impact. The fact that someone other than the Hunters had gone into a danger zone after him had angered him at first. Apparently, Gate had been testing out a new form of armor. And Zero was lucky that the engineer and his assistant had managed to find all of his broken parts.

"I still think you should contact the Maverick Hunters, Zero," Gate said, walking up to him.

Not turning from the screen, he relied, "Not yet. I don't feel ready to go back into service just yet."

"I know you need another week to finish recovery, but still…"

He shook his head. "It's not that. I have things to consider."

"If you say so." He leaned against the table near the computer Zero was using.

Something was obviously on his mind; he had that sagging posture of one bearing a great weight in their heart. On some level, Zero was too preoccupied with his own troubles. But then, this reploid was in charge of his recuperation and it wouldn't do to have him distracted. So Zero would listen at least.

"Sometimes keeping quiet isn't good," Gate said. "Some of the reploids I had built had been displaying erratic behaviors, but I thought my defensive measures would protect them. Many of them ended up executed as Mavericks. That's rough on an engineer, seeing the ones that all your hard work went into being destroyed for being corrupted. It's not that I think you'll go bad, it's just that… sometimes you should just swallow your pride and ask for help."

Well he couldn't blame Gate for being troubled, then. The virus didn't care how much the reploid it infected meant to people. "Yes, but I know that I need some time to myself first. I've got things to think through."

"Ah. Alone then… are you going to be on the surface?"

"Probably," Zero replied, looking over statistics of how many people were in what underground shelters.

"I see." There was a minute of quiet, then Gate reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a bulky handgun. He placed it next to Zero. "Take this, then."

He stopped in his computer research to pick the gun up and check it out. It was very odd, with a short and wide barrel connected to a standard E-sized compact plasma ammo canister. "What kind of design is this?" Zero asked. It was so unfamiliar that he wasn't sure how good it would be. Or even if it would be any good.

"It's a Neutralizer," Gate explained. "I was curious about reports of free-floating viral bodies that existed without a host. Of course, as a reploid I could not participate in such research. But I made a deal with a human colleague so that I could get the data they extract from some samples. The freeform viruses are dangerous… I'm sure you know that already. The Neutralizer is designed to disrupt the viral body's integrity, to neutralize it into separate harmless components. So it allows you to destroy the freeform bodies before they get close."

Zero considered it. He was immune to the virus, in a way, but this device would definitely help others. At any rate, the research department of the Maverick Hunters could backwards engineer this device to give it to non-immunes. "I see. Thank you."

Gate nodded. "I suppose the events that have gone by... they force me to consider my vulnerability. I've made lots of mistakes in the past and I don't want to find myself regretting something I didn't do. I would give this directly to your organization, but I feel as though few trust me anymore."

"So you're trying to get back in good standing by repairing me, huh?" When Gate looked surprised and a bit shamed, Zero just shrugged. "Not that I care. You and Isoc have treated me well; I'll let them know."

"Ah. Thank you." Looking more confident, Dr. Gate left the room.

Still, it was the Zero virus that became the Maverick virus. He was Zero, the bearer of destruction, of this destruction that he was reading painful personal stories of. Perhaps he did not deserve to be back.

* * *

Four weeks after disaster

Breathing... it seemed to command his full attention.

Breathing… there was some need of it for reploids. Not quite as immediate as humans, but it helped run some systems, and regulate others. And there was a calming effect it had.

Breathing…

Gate looked out from the entrance of his workshop, brushing his violet hair out of his face. He saw Zero walking away, his red armor looking fresh and his blond hair flipping in the hot winds. At his side, he had the Neutralizer.

Something seemed to twist up inside him. No one should have that device; it should have never been made. He should have destroyed it, not given it to Zero. However, those were thoughts of destruction. The Neutralizer was an enemy to destruction. It was best in the hands of one who wanted to redeem himself of the destruction.

Unfortunately, that could not be Dr. Gate.

Breathing…

Dr. Gate turned around and headed back into his workshop. Opening up the elevator, he found that green acid was still dropping from the ceiling, pooling in the middle of the elevator. Breathe. Gingerly, he stepped inside and turned to the control pad. A small mechaniloid spider, coated in rust, was crawling round there. If it bit him, he might rust as well. Gate lured it away with his fingers, then pressed the level he wanted to reach.

As the elevator shivered and shuddered as it descended, Gate recalled when there hadn't been a dripping hole of acid, or rust-biting spiders. And when the elevator ran smoothly. He could also recall how, only a few minutes ago, Zero had stood right under the dripping acid without even flinching. Without even noticing it.

Breathing…

There was a perfectly good explanation for that, Gate knew. The reason neither the acid nor the spider affected Zero was because he did not see them. He did not feel them. And if he used the Neutralizer properly, he never would. There was a chance that he wouldn't be affected by this anyhow. But there was also a chance that being immune to the Maverick Virus wouldn't guarantee being immune to this.

Gate clenched his fist close to his chest. He'd hit the wall, but that might attract the spiders. For now, he could still regret this. He could still hope that Zero would fix things. But that wouldn't last much longer. The corruption was getting stronger, and it was harder not to see its way and… no.

Focus on breathing…

The elevator stopped and the door opened. Gate stepped out and immediately, things got dark. Breathe… He walked down the hall from memory, hearing noises that should not belong to this place, noises that might not belong to reality at all. Sometimes he wondered if he had disturbed something that was unfathomable, something unspeakable. Certainly, he should not have messed with this. Curiosity hadn't killed him yet. Curiosity was driving him mad.

Abruptly, the darkness ended. Gate winced at the brightness, then saw the remains of what caused his misfortunes. He was in a room which had been plated with thick plastic, with as low a conductivity as he could afford. Everything in here was plastic… but it was all ruined, torn to shreds. It was gone. They were all gone.

Bringing Zero's body back to the workshop had lured one of the freeform viral bodies. It had looked like a murky red-violet version of the Hunter, but it was not projected from his body. He and Isoc had managed to capture it with some cleverness and secure it in this plastic prison. So long as no electricity was introduced into the room, he had theorized that the thing could not escape. And so, he had observed it. Studied it. Even though such captivity and storage was illegal, reckless. He had been too curious and had poked the virus one too many times.

His intentions had been good, to be sure. He had wanted to find out if something beneficial could be made of this thing, this body made of pure data. And he had made something, a mutant creature that had seemed quite harmless at first.

At first. And then it started, the acid, the blindness, the creatures that were not there but could cause such cruel pain to both himself and Isoc. Gate had realized his mistake and renamed the creatures Nightmares, for that is what they seemed to leave in their wake. However, Isoc had succumbed to them. He had freed the original Zero-like viral body and let it take him over. He had caused the Nightmares to multiply in a horrific speed. And he had set the stage for the spread of this delusional terror across the globe.

And Gate was the one who had made it all possible.

His skin prickled. One of the Nightmares was near, he knew. He could feel them now. They were whittling away his sanity until he too was under their control. He wasn't sure what they wanted. Perhaps their goal was the same as the Zero virus he had based them off of, contamination, spread, and destruction. For now, they were breaking him down.

But… Gate allowed himself to smile proudly. He may have created them, but he had also thwarted them some. He knew the Neutralizer worked on freeforms. It didn't work on infected reploids, but the Nightmares were all freeforms. Inside the weapon's programming, he'd left some notes on how to recover a reploid who was not as far gone as himself. And he had given it to someone who would definitely use it.

When he looked behind him, there were three of the Nightmares in the hall, observing him. "I will fight you as long as I can," he told them.

Even if it wouldn't be for long.

* * *

Five weeks after disaster

Sitting on a pile of dusty rubble, Zero looked over the landscape. Much of it was wrecked, but one building remained. This was a large laboratory of some sort. If he recalled right, it made weapons. Even if it was standing, there was damage, like the gaping hole in its side and the crumpled barbed wire fence.

Overhead, the sky was dark, only a few of the sun's rays shining through. According to the reports, this dust cloud layer was trapping the heat left over from the Eurasia crash. Still, they needed to be careful with clearing the atmosphere. Once a break was formed, the heat would dissipate faster and the sun could not keep the Earth from freezing over. Going from baking hot to bone-gripping cold didn't sound good.

There was movement. Zero's eyes noted one of those Nightmare creatures. They were truly bizarre, with a reploid's torso, a head with a strange face, and the arms and legs of a double helix. But even before he had heard about them on a radio broadcast, he had known that they were bad news. He had watched one latch its helix limbs onto an injured reploid, who had then screamed most chillingly. When the Nightmare had vanished, the reploid struggled back up with an insane look of fear to his eyes. He had attacked Zero, being forced to by the viral body.

Zero had killed that one, then hit him with the Neutralizer. From that point on, he always used that weapon on the Nightmares. It worked almost as Gate had said. He usually had to shoot or slash the viruses to disrupt their shields, then hit them with the Neutralizer before they reformed their defenses. But it got rid of them, like the one trying to sneak up on him.

As killing them took little time, Zero was soon back to thinking. He fought them because he knew that if enough of whatever energy made up those bodies got into his system, his internal virus would activate and he might lose complete control of himself. It had nearly happened just over a month ago. And Sigma knew that. When the Maverick leader rose once more, he would certainly try that again.

In that case, should Zero just stay dead? It might be safer all around. Maybe he had been spreading it unwittingly all along. If he died and wasn't resurrected, maybe the virus would finally die off too.

If. That was so uncertain. What he knew for certain, though, was that very few could fight off the Mavericks successfully. The humans ended up too frail, even if they had protective armor and gear. Other reploids ran the risk of becoming infected and then being part of the problem. In the end, only he and X could fight the Mavericks and be trusted after that. And X… X was still a pacifist and an optimist at heart. He wanted the world to be peaceful. The world just never stayed peaceful long enough for him.

It was then that Zero intercepted a radio message. It came from over a Maverick Hunter encoded channel. Though the static, he heard, "X, can you hear me? Answer us, please."

He recognized that voice. After waiting a minute with no response from X, he replied, "Alia, this is Zero."

"Z-Zero?" Alia sounded shocked. "You're alive… what happened to you? And what are you doing on the surface?"

"It's a long story," he said. "Why are you looking for X?"

"Well I think his communications unit is malfunctioning or something… Do you see the large warehouse ahead of you? That's an old weapons lab that's been infested with the Nightmare virus. X had been fighting off the Nightmares when I lost contact with him. Things are harder to do clearly due to the dust layer in the atmosphere, but if I can talk clearly to you, than something must be keeping him from responding."

He nodded reflexively. "I see. I'll head in and find him."

"Thank you. Oh, and he's acting a little off lately. I think it's this conflict so soon after the Eurasia disaster and the fact that he's been working almost non-stop since this Nightmare phenomenon came to our attention."

That worried him. But first, Zero had to find X. "All right. Get me the current layout of this place and where you're picking up X's signals at." Then he ran to the weapons lab.

As he wasn't near the main entrance, Zero made his way to the collapsed section of wall. There was an unsteady mass of rubble on the ground, with rough concrete pieces that slipped and slid underneath his boots. Keeping his stride light and quick, he made his way up the pile. He paused on the broken wall; there were three floors he could access. After shooting and neutralizing a Nightmare, he checked the map Alia had given.

"Zero?" the operator asked. "What was that weapon you just used? It isn't in your files."

"It's called a Neutralizer," he told her. "It disrupts and destroys the freeform viral bodies. I got it from Dr. Gate two weeks back."

"Gate?"

"You should look at it when I get there. Where's X?"

"Right… he's on the second floor, in a large hallway just ahead of you. I'm picking up a strong energy body in that area too. It looks most like the freeform Zero viral bodies that were at the main impact site."

Well he had the right weapon for those things now. Zero braced himself, then dash-jumped to reach part of the wall that was still standing. It crumbled at his impact, but gave him enough surface area to rebound ahead onto part of the second floor. Dashing as soon as he landed, he reached the doorway before the floor also gave way.

Although it was an automated sliding door, it did not budge. Zero struck it with his shoulder, but it was jammed shut. He then took his plasma blade and cut the door out, pushing it into the hallway on the other side.

This area was more intact than the previous rooms. There were even some lights functioning, although much of the hall was dark. Down in a strongly lit patch, he saw X fighting off that viral body. It wasn't like the previous ones, though. This one was fully formed to look exactly like him, but with its colors shifted. Its armor was a weird red-violet and its skin had a violet tone. And its hair was pink, somehow. Thinking briefly that he was glad that he was not designed with that color scheme, Zero fired the Neutralizer at the viral body.

That worked perfectly. The strange being had the time to scream as his form rapidly blurred to the monotone silhouette that other viral bodies like it had. Just to make sure, Zero fired the gun again, causing it to dissipate into a static discharge, than nothing.

He slipped the gun back in his extra holster. "People keep trying to be like me but they'll never match my skill."

"Zero?" X looked at him, curious, hopeful, but suspicious.

He didn't blame his friend. Not after what Sigma tried to do last time. "It's me," he said, walking over to him slowly. He kept his saber handle in his hand, but it was deactivated. Completely putting away his weapons in a dangerous place like this would be out of character. "I heard you guys nuked Sigma with an EMP bomb after the last bit I remember."

"Right." Then he smiled and approached too. "It's good to see you again. But, where've you been? And… what happened to you? You, you look different."

Zero glanced at his arm; Gate had made a few modifications, probably due to what he had available. "Do I? I got picked up by an ally and repaired; lucky that electro-nuke didn't get me."

"Well," X hesitated, looking guilty.

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It makes sense to get rid of him that way while he's in his more vulnerable viral form. But Alia's worried about you now."

"Is she?" When Zero nodded, X sighed and looked around. Checking out for more enemies. "This conflict with the Nightmares has been crazy, stressful on both of us. She knew the Mavericks personally this time, from before they were corrupted. She even worked on a few of them with her mentor Gate." He tapped his head. "That, and I think my com unit's on the fritz. I keep getting garbage signals."

"You need to get back to base to get that fixed quickly," he stated. "Otherwise, you'll find yourself in a heap of trouble."

"I know. But you should get back sooner, to get a briefing on what this current conflict is about. I'll return shortly. I still have a mission to complete in this area." X shot out a mechaniloid that had started heading for them recklessly. "I'll be fine for a while longer."

As much as he didn't like leaving his partner alone to the mission, for once Zero wouldn't mind a bit longer of a break. "This whole year has been crazy," he said with a grimace. "Come back as soon as you're done."

"I will." He took off into a nearby doorway. The sound of buster shots soon came from there.

Zero touched the side of his head. "Did you get that, Alia?"

"Yes," she replied. "And I still couldn't contact him. I thought we were done there…. But maybe not. At least he said he's coming back now. Give me a minute to get a transport lock on you; it's a tough deal lately."

"Would be." A minute and a half later, he was out of the weapons lab.

* * *

Zero was troubled, Alia noticed. He was distracted while they were debriefing him on what had occurred since he had last reported in. Given that they had gotten information from Sigma in the fifth war that Zero was the origin of all the troubling viral strains, it was easy for her to understand why and sympathize. He did manage to give them a full report, although he often seemed to be forcing himself to tell things.

"Gate said he was testing a new kind of armor, which was completely reckless," he said once, taking a moment to cool his temper by focusing on breathing. "Almost as reckless as bringing back a reploid of the condition I was in. I could have been harboring Sigma's mind, for all he knew. I'm not, but it could happen."

"You are clear of infections," one of the other engineers stated, reviewing the scan data they were getting off Zero.

"Active ones, anyhow," he said, closing his eyes and turning his head. His lips moved a bit. Alia wondered if he was muttering something about dormant viruses that had always been taken to be normal pieces of his programming.

"There is something odd about that," Alia said, hoping to redirect his thoughts. "You say it was Gate and Isoc who repaired you?"

He nodded. "Mostly Gate and I only saw Isoc the first time I was awakened. He apparently went off to do something."

"And how was Gate when you left him?"

"Overworked. It took him a moment to say anything and he was jumpy. Half-asleep too, I suppose. He'd been troubled by something, but he never said what and I didn't notice any signs of infection."

"When did you last see Gate?"

"Six days ago."

"And Isoc?"

Zero thought on it. "Probably fifteen."

"I see. Well nearly fourteen days ago, there was a global news report from Isoc about the Nightmare virus. It was the first we or anyone else had heard of them, but they spread rapidly. Isoc said he was sending in investigators to check things out. However, he also stated that those reploids who had managed to defeat the Nightmares, then absorb the glowing souls they left behind, would become stronger."

Zero snorted. "Seems too close to the Maverick virus to me."

"We thought so too at first," Signas said, "but Isoc also sent us a long scientific paper proving that it was the truth. Plus, the Nightmares regenerate unless something is done about those so called souls. And as she said, the Nightmares invade a new area rapidly, growing in numbers at a higher rate than the viral bodies we've observed before. Plus the Nightmare Investigators turned Maverick and kidnapped reploids to drag to their areas. We've had a mass of work to do in trying to regain control."

And that meant X had a lot to do, Alia thought sadly. Zero just nodded. "So is Isoc a Maverick?"

"We believe so," Alia said. "And…"

When she couldn't say it, Signas said, "And Gate has reportedly joined him as of three days ago. We want to do a deep scan of your body before we give you any more details."

Zero sighed. "Fine, I'll do it. But here." He passed over what might have been a gun if it had not such a wide barrel. "This is the Neutralizer that Gate gave me. It works as he stated, disrupting the viral bodies. I've not noticed the Nightmares regenerating on me and I stayed in some spots for several hours."

"We'll check this over too," Signas said, pushing the gun towards Alia.

* * *

After getting Zero into the medical pod for the deep scan, Alia pulled the Neutralizer out of its scanning device. No known viruses, no corrupt data. However, there were rather large files on the weapon's hard drive. Something Gate had wanted to store, or even share? Alia got hold of a contained computer, attached the gun's port to the data cable, then downloaded the files.

She then took the Neutralizer apart for study. Like most other weapons, it followed a standard dismantling procedure to be used for maintenance. However, this weapon has some interior parts that were definitely not standard. A tiny marking by this intricate machinery asked that the maintenance files stored on the weapon be consulted prior to cleaning most of the inner workings. She made notes of this and other observations in her own files.

The containment computer then informed her that it had downloaded and scanned all the files in the Neutralizer. No warnings had been tripped, so she asked to look in them. Immediately, she was warned that the documents wanted to open a particular video clip first. Alia checked it; it was a video file, standard format. She let it run.

In a moment, the face of her friend and mentor appeared on the screen. He looked like Zero had said, tired and nervous. He was prone to working many long hours with few breaks, so she had seen him tired before. This didn't look the same. This video made him look sick, with shadowed eyes. He also focused on his breathing quite often, something reploids often did when in pain or under stress.

"Thank you for taking the time to look into my Neutralizer," he said. "I am Dr. Gate and this may be the last recording I do while in possession of my own mind and sanity."

Was he infected at this point and struggling to stay free? Dozens of reploids had been recorded to be like this prior to becoming full Mavericks. Feeling a pang of sadness, Alia bit her lip and kept watching.

"I suppose it is all my fault, for being too curious for my own good." He paused, breathing, then went on. "It began when Maverick Hunters and a few other witnesses reported seeing freeform viral bodies, electronic fragments of data that would latch onto a host reploid and make the victim do its bidding, to continue its spread and survival. But these bodies were just data and electricity. No generator, no material body, just malevolent energy able to move freely and seek victims.

"I wanted to know how this was possible, but being a reploid, I could not approach a freeform viral body myself. I made contacts with human researchers and had to make deals, forge alliances, even bribe and beg, in order to get research data on these creatures. We found out that, in the society we live in, there are so many electronic devices that the ambient electrical energy may be continuous enough that such data fragments can operate on their own for a brief time. Areas where such things occur have often been reported as having a high static charge. But others have not, so we had to come up with other theories.

"Then, in the wake of the Eurasia colony crash, my assistant Isoc and I stumbled on a unique opportunity. The environment was so harsh that, once Sigma had been eliminated, the Maverick Hunters withdrew X out of the impact zone quickly. He had been badly injured during that fight, although not as gravely as Zero. And I heard, from various sources, that they were not able to retrieve Zero immediately. As badly as X described his peer's condition, they assumed he was dead or near-dead, but could not send anyone back in to make certain.

"Knowing that Zero is said to hold the source code for the various viral strains, I wanted to get Zero's body for my own study. I had a high grade armor that I had been building that I felt would be able to protect me from the harsh environment of the impact grounds, even if it was not that long since the crash. I nearly wrecked the armor in doing so, but I managed to set up temporary relay towers, locate Zero's body, and teleport him back to my lab. I transported a lot of material, as sometimes I couldn't distinguish a possible part from rubble while on the scene.

"I thought I had done so safely, but when I returned to the lab, Isoc alerted me that a Zero viral body had followed me back. Based on what I knew, we improvised a way to capture it in a high insulation chamber. I left it an electrical source that I theorized was enough to keep it intact, but not enough to let it escape.

"Once it was sealed in the insulation chamber, the viral body did an interesting thing. It placed itself on top of the electrical device, then seemed to enter a hibernation state. One could still see it, as the simple electronic motor and battery wasn't enough to absorb it. But we recorded no activity from it.

"As for it..." he took a longer pause than usual, briefly looking disoriented. Alia felt worried for a brief moment, then saddened that this was a recording from over a week ago. "Information on the viral body I captured, the armor I used, and data I got off Zero are all on this weapon's storage drive. I will give this to Zero shortly, so I feel confident this will reach Maverick Hunter researchers who can be trusted.

"Isoc, I, and my drones went to work not only repairing Zero, but studying any abnormal systems or data we found. For a few days, it was frustrating. Some of his systems show the same elusive qualities as the Maverick virus and all its variants. Then I hit on something. The results are too detailed for me to go into for this recording, but I left the draft of the research paper I made. But it seems that the power of Zero and the virus he carries is multidimensional.

"The humans have known length, width, depth, and time as their observable dimensions. They could manipulate the first three, but not the fourth. Early in the twenty-first century, theories were given that there may be other dimensions on a quantum level, dimensions that they could not sense nor detect fully. But it seems someone made a breakthrough. Especially if we accept that Dr. Wily is Zero's creator… his technologies seem to work on seven dimensions.

"Seven that I can detect, at least. These hidden dimensions of data give him many curious features, perhaps even including how he can suffer as much damage as he did, yet come out of repair just the same as he was. His personal data is barely readable without using seven-dimensional scanners, which are just now seeing use for observing quantum particles and trying to make something useful out of their quirks.

"In the same manner, the freeform viral bodies exist on seven dimensions, at least. I can only detect those seven and the information seems complete. But I cannot discount the possibility they might be further complex. The extra dimensions would also allow them to survive without a host body; they are siphoning energy off nearby electrical devices, but are bypassing direct physical contact with those devices on a scale of three or even four dimensions which cannot be observed by human senses.

"I'm taking too long… anyhow, I attempted to make my own seven dimensional machines and beings. I came up with three variants. First would be the Nightmares. I thought they would enhance us reploids by connecting to us on those three extra dimensions, but I did not have enough experience with such seven-dimensional crafting. Some parts of the Zero virus got built into them and now they are malevolent. They cause lucid hallucinations in reploids, so serious that those of us who are infected can be damaged or even destroyed by mere illusions that they give us. And I'm not talking about them turning a victim blind and making them walk off a cliff, although that does happen. I mean like how I see highly corrosive acid dripping down the halls which burns me appropriately." He held up a hand, which did indeed have a large burn. "Yet, I know the green acid does not truly exist, for if it did, my whole base would have been destroyed by now.

"Second, I unwittingly upgraded that Zero viral body that I had captured. It now appears like an off-color Zero and can communicate. Its moods are unstable. Sometimes it speaks with cunning and guile, and sometimes it rants and shrieks. It escaped, corrupting my assistant Isoc and taking a large quantity of Nightmares with it. But some Nightmares remain, stalking me. They're driving me mad."

Dr. Gate let out a long sigh, spending a moment to compose himself. "Lastly, I've been working with a pace that might suggest I was insane or obsessed… but I created a new reploid, based of what I researched about Zero and a previously unfinished project. I call him High Max and he's extraordinarily strong. He has a build of the armor I used to retrieve Zero from the impact site. High Max was awakened with a strong infection of both the Zero and the Nightmare viruses. I'm not sure how long he'll remain sane, but it can't be long. If you encounter him please destroy him with what information I have stored here.

"Last of all, this weapon, the Neutralizer. Once I realized that I was infected, I sought out a method of decontamination that would be permanent. Knowing that the virus worked on seven dimensions, I know how past methods have failed to be so; the virus retreats within the difficult to measure dimensions, then revives in times of stress, or other triggers. I tried to work at the frantic pace I had been, but the virus actively worked against me on that. Still, I managed to come up with a method. It seems to work, as I've tried several others. If they resist the virus and struggle to retain their true identity, they could be cleansed. I'm afraid it may be too late for me, though. I'll leave my vital signs and other information, without the virus on them, so others may see.

"I also invented this device, to destroy viral bodies in freeform stage without having to use a risky EMP device or certain specialized skills. I can safely say that it works. However, the virus makes me despise the Neutralizer and want to destroy it. Thus, I am giving it to Zero soon, before I fully lose myself.

"And I want you to know, whoever is watching this... I am deeply sorry for what I have wrought. I too am suffering from my recklessness. Destroy me when you see me next, as it will be necessary. But, please forgive me."

That was where the video ended.

Alia's face was wet with tears.

* * *

Upon learning the details of the Nightmare conflict, Zero was fighting to keep from being angry at all of them. "This is ridiculous," he snapped. "Did you even question that soul-absorbing method Isoc gave out?"

"Yes," Alia said, doing her best to be patient, but fiddling with her fingers in a way that suggested he was intimidating her. "X was reluctant about it, but he read over the scientific papers Isoc released. I did too, but I wasn't able to find anything wrong right off. Then again, we were under pressure to do something when the Nightmare Investigators started kidnapping reploids and forcing infections on them."

"We have a lot of civilian and government reploids in deep hibernation containment pods," Lifesaver said. "These are all reploids X rescued. I'm working out the seven-dimensional method Gate left in your weapon. It looks to be promising."

"But in that data," Signas said, slipping some worry into his normally collected voice, "we've come to realize that X has likely succumbed to the Nightmare virus too. He is resisting strongly, even more than Gate apparently was. But his behaviors have deviated from past records. We were thinking it was just the stress and pressure he was under, working as our sole virus-resistant reploid. But in high enough quantities, it seems even he can become a victim."

Zero glared at them. "I want to yell at you, but it's more important that we find and contain X now. So are there differences in this Nightmare infection that I need to know of?"

Alia nodded. "Yes. The victims do become violent, but it seems they are operating out of fear rather than unchecked hatred. All of the victims we took in were terrified during the procedures: some wept, others tried to tear their way out in a panic, some just froze and whimpered. And they're all delusional. They don't perceive the world properly."

"These illusions are so strong that they can damage themselves," Signas said. "And not just the usual self-inflicted injuries. The virus seems to be damaging them from within to enforce its illusions."

"X is showing signs of paranoid and delusion," Alia said, looking down and speaking regretfully. "You're… going to have to be careful in dealing with him."

Zero got up. "I'll get him back one way or another. Where is he?"

* * *

This was likely the low point of his career.

X couldn't help but think of that as he waited, watching the spot where his last enemy had gone down. It had been two eyeball units that fired lasers and tried to collide with him. However, they had been independent units and they had been surrounded by strange green material. Before the fight had started, he had seen a rather large green blob like that, only it had formed into a Nightmare, which had tried to attack him. He had defeated it, and what he could only assume was the things that were producing these freeform viral bodies. Hopefully this would slow their onslaught. Unless there were more units like this around.

This whole mission, he'd fought many tough battles. Some of the enemies had been huge and strong, while others had been huge and fast. And one had replicated himself many times, forcing X to fight in a seven against one battle. His blue armor was a mess, slick with oil in places, while caked in grime in others. Part of him worried that someone might see him in this state. He was like some berserker who had just come in from a muddy and violent battlefield.

Then he heard someone calling his name. X didn't recognize the voice at first. It was almost familiar, but… oh right, that was Zero now. He had changed since the Eurasia incident. According to him, some ally had found and repaired him. That still didn't explain why Zero was a girl now.

He, or rather she, came into the room and gave a quick look at the remains of the mechaniloid boss... or whatever it was. She had the same red armor as before, and the same long blond hair… and oddly enough, the same basic body shape. But Zero also had breasts this time. Not ridiculously huge ones, but enough that you could tell he was now a she. X wondered again why Zero had chosen to do that. He'd support his friend, whatever he, err, she wanted to do. But it would have been nice if it hadn't been so sudden.

"Hey Zero," X said. "Wasn't that entrance something?" That had been such a close shave. It was definitely a 'you are not welcome' sign.

"You were supposed to have returned to base, X," she said sternly.

Oh right. X got angry. "I did! And what was that all for? You know I don't get any enjoyment out of this!"

She gave him a puzzled look. "What are you talking about, dweeb?"

He stamped his foot down and glared at her. "That's exactly what I'm talking about! You never insulted me like that before."

For some reason, she continued to act dumb. But X could remember it clearly, how horrible it had been. Alia had been glaring daggers at him. "Oh, so you finally decide to show your face back here, huh?"

X had flinched at that tone. "Alia? But you asked me to return."

"That's right, I did." She then slapped his face.

Technically, he could have blocked it. But as she was a peer (or so he'd thought), he didn't try. "What did I do wrong?"

She snorted and walked off. "'What did I do wrong' he asks. Hmph."

"Ah, our warmonger has come back," Signas said, entering the teleport room.

X had felt the color drain from his face. "Wh-what? I'm not a warmonger."

"Right, so says the guy who won the last five major wars of the world," the commander replied, rolling his eyes.

"How many people have you killed," Alia hissed from her chair. "How many people that were victims and you knew it yet still mercilessly destroyed them?"

And it didn't get any better. X had slipped away as soon as he had an excuse, but before he could meet back up with Zero again. Maybe that had been good… until she decided to track him down herself.

"Don't argue with me," she retorted. "Now what are you doing here?"

"I got a message from Dr. Gate; it sounds like he's gone Maverick. He told me to come here. You know, the usual end fortress trap deal. But this one seems more sadistic than the rest, what with that crazy entrance drop, the spikes, and the acid."

Zero sighed, then walked towards him. "You stupid twit, then why'd you come alone? If you'd just stop being such a sappy whiner, we might have ended this years ago."

Snapping, X punched Zero in the face. "Would you stop that? What the hell made you all turn on me now? Has everyone become insane and sadistic? And why in the world did you turn yourself into a woman, huh? If you guys aren't going to accept the sacrifices I make, well then I'll…" his mind went blank. "Well I'm not going to stand around and listen to this any longer! I'm stopping this madness." Then he bolted out of the room, using his dash jets to get away faster.

* * *

Zero had managed to step out of X's punch when he suddenly snapped like that. But he wasn't able to pursue X after he bolted, due to an energy field appearing the doorway. Showing a brief snarl of frustration, he said, "Alia, how do I get these fields cut?"

"Not from inside that room… did he really just call you a woman?"

Zero looked around and spotted a large hole in the ceiling. A few creative wall jumps got him in there. "That confirms that he's delusional and infected."

His internal map soon updated with where that passage went. It might intercept X, if he was fast. "Right… there is some good news, though, as Lifesaver has just informed me that he has successfully cleared a Nightmare victim to where even the deep scanners running with the seven dimensional boosters can't detect the viruses. So we need to get X, Gate, and Isoc contained until we can heal them."

"Will do."

After climbing up the passage, he found himself in front of a door. Going through that lead to a rock lined room. It gave a gloomy cave-like atmosphere to the room. Why did people do that?

"Zero, something's coming into the room you're in," Alia said. "It's… a reploid, and I'm picking up signs of a Maverick and Nightmare infection. This one is probably unrecoverable."

Well it couldn't be X, but who was it? Zero watched as a giant black armored reploid appeared, flickering in teleport at first, but then settling in. "Ah Zero, you've come to my master's call."

He recalled some of the files on the mission. "You must be High Max."

"Indeed."

"Well I didn't come because he called," he stated. "But it did make it a lot easier to track you to where you had moved."

"Whatever your reasons, now is when you'll be crushed." He summoned a pair of energy shields and dashed across the room.

Zero rolled on the ground and tried to hit him as he went by. But the shields caught his attack, absorbing it. High Max then dispelled his energy shields, in an attempt to smash Zero with them. The blond hunter did his best to rush out of that attack and strike Max while those shields were gone. But in doing so, he nearly hit himself with his own blade when Max's armor deflected it and disrupted the shape stabilizers.

Several minutes later, the fight had gone nowhere. Zero found some areas where the armor didn't cover, but had to wait for Max to dismiss the shields to hit them. On his side, High Max struck fast and hard, but his accuracy wasn't that great. The small size of the room decreased the accuracy problem, but gave him a movement problem. It looked like whichever one of them faltered first would die.

Alia spoke over the com line. "Zero… his armor deflects all but a few types of energy. You don't have any attacks that qualify for hitting him without using a break in his armor. But his own attacks, particularly the large sparkling ball, those would damage his armor if you could deflect them somehow."

To get it deflected properly, he'd have to be right in its path and if he missed, that was it. So he opted for his own strategy. He focused his weapons energy, then, when Max next threw his shields at him, Zero dashed at Max, jumped, then unleashed Giga Crush into the largest opening on Max's armor, near his eyes.

The deflecting armor worked both ways, as it turned out. It not only kept energy from hitting it, but it kept energy from escaping most of it. So Zero's attack pulsed through Max's body several times. His most vital parts were ruined and his body collapsed to the ground, now just an empty shell.

"Isoc is approaching you from the other door," Alia said, the map indicating she meant the one he hadn't come through. "He's in the same condition, unrecoverable… but he's unarmored and mainly a researcher…"

"Well he might be able to activate the base's weaponry," Zero pointed out. He rushed towards the door, nearly crashing into Isoc. He quickly dispatched the infected reploid, then kept dashing down the hall. "Now where's X and Gate?"

"They… they found each other. Not too far from your position, you could reach them in a minute."

"Good. And they're still fine for recovery?"

"Hmmm, yes, they're both just under the Nightmare virus. They should be okay if you deal with them carefully."

And if they didn't kill each other first, Zero thought. But he kept that to himself.

* * *

Griehnn opnar nar biawng wunf ns nuiow nopw…

Dr. Gate cringed. He could try covering his ears, but that didn't work. Even if he destroyed his ears, he was certain that he would still hear them.

Jisphun eriwen vsa buhn ern piw renma…

He had retreated here, to the most dangerous place in this base. If his hover mechanisms gave out or if he made a wrong move, he could die instantly. The spikes and the giant pool of acid promised that. However, this place offered protection from what hunted him outside. From the things that he had disturbed, from the things that did not belong in this world. He supposed that on some level, he should go out and be destroyed by them. He deserved it for calling them. But, he was too afraid to do that, or to kill himself within these walls.

The door opened, causing him a moment of panic. Gate turned and, to his relief, saw only X. The Hunter looked around at the room in shock, then dash jumped onto one of the small platforms to safety. He then looked over to where Gate was hovering. "Dr. Gate, here you are."

"Do you hear it?" Gate asked. "Do you hear the voice of the legion?"

X gasped. "What? Legion?"

He bowed his head. "That is what I called. I know not what else to call it. The voices of those who have perished in madness. They say that my soul belongs to them now."

"Then why don't you go to them?" X asked, raising his buster.

"Is that what you've come to do? Perhaps you've become enthralled of them too. I'm sorry, but I will fight them; I will not give in to you or them."

* * *

What was with all the spikes? And now this floor covered in acid, with the only safe spots being a scattering of tiny floating platforms spread throughout the room. However, the door was shutting quickly behind him, so X jumped onto one of the tiny platforms for secure ground.

He finally found his target, wearing a gold colored lab coat and a similar helmet. "Dr. Gate, here you are," he said.

"Do you hear it?" Gate asked. "Do you hear the voice of Sigma?"

X felt his insides twist up. Not again. "What? Sigma?"

"That is who I mean," Gate replied. "I found Sigma too and brought him back into being. The project isn't quite complete yet. But when it is, he will be stronger then ever."

He got his weapons ready. "How could you revive that mad reploid?"

"Is it not a scientist's place to be curious? I wanted to know how he operates, and so I found out. But it's not ready, so I must stop you now. I called you so that you would know your doom."

Gate was hovering, which X could not do in his current armor. At best, he could jump from platform to platform, but that would be risky with every move. He first tried shooting at Gate, but the plasma burst merely bounced off Gate's armor coat.

Next, X tried his special weapons. Water Burst was out, since that tended to put him on the ceiling and this ceiling was covered in spikes. He tried charging the Yammar Option, which caused him to bring out three dragonfly mechaniloids and cause them to shot fireballs. But that didn't work. Neither did dropping anchors on Gate's head, or shooting Ray Arrow at him. None of it worked against Gate. While that proved him to be smarter than Sigma in a tactical sense, it wasn't good for X.

In the meantime, Gate warped around, shot colored energy balls at him, and occasionally tried to knock him into the spiked walls or the acid floor. X then tried the Z-saber he had gotten from Zero at the Eurasia crash site, but even that did nothing. However, it did reflect the colored energy balls, which did cause Gate to yelp. This was going to take a long time.

But then the entrance door opened up. "X!" The female Zero came in… and walked out right into the acid.

"Zero, watch out!" X called.

She looked between them. However, she remained on top of the acid pit, without falling in, slipping, or even taking any apparent damage. "X, Gate, both of you stop," she commanded.

Gate did stop, so X held off on fighting. The engineer was puzzled, maybe even disturbed. "How are you standing there without any problems? Even Sigma couldn't do that."

Right, there was that. Taking the chance, X dash-jumped to the platform nearest the exit door, then down to there. "You take care of this, then come here!" he called to Zero. Hopefully she would see the greater danger and hold off on whatever she meant for him. Unless she would try to get Sigma to kill him.

The next room was disturbing. Maybe not to a human, but to a reploid like him… the walls were covered in wires, some of which showed pulsing energy flowing through them. There was junk all over the floor, but not like the junk that had been at the trash processing plant. This was all parts from reploids, not neatly wrapped up, but apparently ripped and torn from working reploids. There were even some partial bodies opened up and missing quite a bit from them. And some of those corpses were unnervingly familiar.

And then, one of those bodies moved. Sigma got up slowly, looking to be in pretty poor shape. His movements were sluggish, as if he wasn't used to this body yet. "So, the murderer has come."

Feeling a flush of shame again, X braced himself. "I am not a murderer. You're the one who's murdered hundreds of thousands of innocents, maybe millions. You've certainly ruined the lives of everyone on Earth."

Smirking, Sigma kept approaching him. "Have I? They were mostly humans, inconsequential."

"Inconse… how can you say that?"

"There'll be a million more in a dozen years if we allow them to breed recklessly, as they always do. But you, you have murdered dozens of your own kind. They say you are the original, the father figure to us all. But what kind of father is it that ends up killing more of his children than anyone else ever did?"

What kind of father..? No, he was just trying to distract him. X tried to steel himself like Zero did (but then he'd never been as good at that). "You were the one who corrupted them."

"Did I corrupt them?" Sigma replied. "Or is that just what your human masters have told you? Have you ever been corrupted, as you call it? You're just a murderer, blind to your own madness."

"I am not!" X declared, sending out a charged version of Metal Shark Player's weapon.

Then, somehow, Storm Eagle was beside him. "I fought beside you once," he said spitefully. "And then you killed me."

"You were corrupted by the Maverick virus." X said.

"We were corrupted?" Magma Dragoon asked. "By that which your closest friend brought forth? You are the murderer."

"You are the murderer."

"You are the one who killed…"

"…hiding from your own madness…"

"..blindly doing as they said…"

X tensed, at a loss for what to do. "No I am not!"

* * *

Zero entered a large blank room filled with small floating platforms. Dr. Gate was firing some kind of colored energy attack, while X was on one of the little platforms with his saber trying to fight. But he paused on seeing him. "Zero, watch out!"

Glancing around, he didn't see any weapons. But he kept cautious as he ran on the concrete floor to them. "X, Gate, both of you stop," he commanded.

They did, but they also seemed utterly baffled. "How are you standing there without any problems?" Gate asked in shock. "Even High Max couldn't do that."

He was confused himself, until Alia said, "The Nightmares are giving them both the same delusions; I can't tell what, though."

But then X bolted from his spot to another doorway. "You take care of this, then come here!" he called, then went through the door.

"Darn it, X," Zero grumbled. But at least the two delusional reploids were separated now.

"Oh dear," Dr. Gate said, looking to the door in worry. "He's gone into the heart of the legion. Even if he was out to capture me for sacrifice, I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

"He's got the same kind of armor as High Max," Alia noted. "So you can't hurt him either."

"Then what do I do?" he asked softly.

"Well…"

"Are you here to drag me before the demons too?" Gate asked sharply. "You must be working for them; that's the only way you could be doing that without dying." He fired that colored energy attack again, this time down at him.

These attack orbs were easier to deflect with his saber. Direction, though, that wasn't so easy, especially with the way the scientist kept warping. There wasn't a clear way to simply restrain him, not with that armor.

Alia seemed to get that idea too. "He is under severe delusions, susceptible to suggestions. You could try using that against him. Tell him that there's rust spiders on his armor and that might get him to remove it."

Normally, he'd call off that tactic as idiotic. But he was dealing with someone with twisted logic and senses. "I can't tell you who sent me, but they sent me along with some rust spiders to help," Zero said, bringing up his Z-buster and firing it at Gate.

The shot deflected, of course, but Gate's eyes went wide and he screamed in pure panic. Hastily, he landed on a platform and detached the armor from his body, then hurled it to the floor. Unfortunately, this unbalanced him, making him crash as well. Gate screamed again, this time in pain.

And something came out of his body, destroying him as it left him behind. It was a strange eye that opened up and looked right at Zero. Around it were dozens of strange green globs. It didn't seem like Gate could be recovered from that.

"I recognize that from his file!" Alia said. "That's a Nightmare Mother. It mass produces the Nightmares. It's not infectious by itself, but it can create a massive quantity of viral bodies if left alone."

"Is it a viral body itself?" Zero asked, observing the thing. It fired a laser at him, causing him to jump aside.

"Yes, just not infectious."

"Good, then thank Douglas for upgrading this thing." He pulled out the Neutralizer and shot the Nightmare Mother right in its eye. It wailed and didn't immediately disintegrate. But several more shots finished off the thing. Zero then went over to check on Gate.

It didn't look good. The Mother unit must have used its laser to burn its way out of his body, as his head and chest were melted and black. His internal components were starting to solidify into an unusable hunk of scrap electronics.

"So it killed him," Alia said, her voice shaky.

It was bad, but he still had to get X out of here. "Pass me off to another operator if you have to. I'm getting X." He ran through the door X had gone through.

And immediately stopped. The legion Gate had spoken of turned out to be a mass of Nightmares, all crammed into this room for some reason. X was deeper in, crouched down with his hands around his head. Several of them were close, not quite overtaking him yet, but trying to break through his defenses.

Cursing under his breath, Zero took the Neutralizer and began firing. First, clear a path to X, then destroy all the ones close to him. The Neutralizer was now able to punch through their shields, so the Nightmares went down in single shots. Still, there was a mass of them and if any one of them touched him, then who knew what would happen? Maybe he would fall into delusions too, or maybe his unfortunate special status would affect him differently. But if they took X, then his friend might fall to the same fate as Gate.

It took several minutes, but Zero destroyed all the ones he could see in the room. He stayed near X, but paced around, seeing if any were in hiding. He hadn't heard from Alia or someone else yet, so he didn't have an operator's overview report.

"Ar-are you here to kill me?" X asked weakly.

Zero turned to X, who was standing up now that the Nightmares were gone. But it was a bit frightening to see him look so defeated. His posture was slouched; his eyes showed deep pain and fear of further torment. It was almost like the Mavericks right before their willpower broke and they snapped under the virus' pressure. This was going to be a delicate situation.

Unfortunately, X was the one who was usually good at this. "I'm not here to kill you," Zero replied. "I'm here to get you returned for treatment."

The message didn't get through to him. "I didn't want to be a warmonger or a murder, how did this happen?"

He decided to go for the tough method and grabbed X's shoulders. "X, snap out of it!"

And that just made him hysterical, wildly struggling out of his grasp. "NO, not that! Don't leave me to them! I know them all, the voices are all those that I've murdered. All my own kind… I've killed the most reploids of anyone. I just wanted peace for everyone, but I've killed and ruined so many. I don't want to go back to them!"

He wasn't responsible for that. Zero had dealt with these doubts of X before and had thought he was over them. The Nightmares seemed to have awakened that back up and magnified it. Zero tried to think of what to do and recalled that as a victim of delusions, X would be susceptible to suggestions.

He looked to X, hoping the Nightmares wouldn't give another misinterpretation. "Okay, I will kill you."

On hearing that, X calmed down and looked relieved. "You will?"

"Zero?" The voice of an unfamiliar operator asked over the com line.

Great time to jump in, Zero thought briefly. He let that sarcasm come because he was starting to feel scared for X's mental state after this. "Yes, but I still respect you in how long we've worked together. So I'm going to hypnotize you into a deep sleep first."

Some doubt came to X's face. "You know hypnotism?" Hopefully that was a sign that enough of him was still left to adequately save him.

Zero nodded. "Right, it was…" he searched for a reason and came up with one when he recalled previous delusions. "It was when I got turned into a girl."

"And why did you do that?"

"Accident," he lied. "Whoever repaired me had been asked to, even though he had a grudge against me. And this is what happened," he put his hand on his chest.

"Oh… I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all this."

"It's okay, X; you won't have to worry about it." Recalling some junky television show on so-called street magic, Zero waved his hand in front of his friend's face. "Now just quiet your mind and let go of your problems. Lower your energy and slow down your processes, entering a deep sleep."

Obediently, X closed his eyes and was rapidly asleep.

"Um, Zero?" the operator asked.

He sighed. "Don't worry; I'm not going to kill him. I just had to get him to cooperate with me. Get us both out of here so we can get him into treatment immediately."

"Yes sir," she replied, sending out signals to retrieve them.

* * *

Eight weeks after Eurasia Incident

There was a faceoff in the command room between a highly angry X and a rattled Signas. There weren't any active missions that required constant watch, so the few operators who were in the room glanced at them and to each other in worry. Over at the sidelines, an office worker watched warily, uncertain of what he should do.

After struggling with his words, Signas said, "X, we already agreed to put you off active duty for a period…"

"I know that, but I don't care!" X snapped. "I'm quitting."

"But we might need you," he said, although even as he said it, he realized it probably wasn't the right thing to say now.

"No you don't," X countered, then just left the room on his own.

Feeling concerned for him in his current state of mind, Signas looked to the office worker. "Rob, you go follow him."

"Sir?" the worker asked, uncertain.

"You don't have to talk to him, just don't let him get by himself."

Rob nodded and left the command center, worried about how he was supposed to find one of the top Hunters and follow him. But it turned out to be rather easy. Just down the hall, X was sitting on the floor with his face buried in his hands.

* * *

The teleport station was quiet. There was a hum as the machinery did its usual maintenance routines. On a waiting bench, X sat and kept to himself. An old style wall clock was ticking in monotone. Over in the operator's chair, the day's station worker kept busy with something, but always looked in a mirror back at X. He knew this, but didn't bother her or talk to her about it. He knew why she was doing it.

After close to an hour of this, Zero walked into the room. The operator looked back at him. "Oh, sir?"

"Could you get this taken care of?" he asked, passing her a data drive with a label on it.

She glanced at it. "All right, I'll get it done." She then left the room.

Zero sat on the bench by X. "They told me to come talk to you," he said once she was gone.

"Talk me out of this?" X asked.

"They'd like that, I'm sure." Zero leaned back. "So you're really going?"

"Yeah. I don't know how long I'll be gone. It kind of depends."

"Where are you going?"

X smiled weakly. "Shelter 852 in Africa. They've got a psychology school set up in there so it can continue operating, including a long-term hospital."

Zero raised his eyebrows. "You're going to a nut house?"

"Don't call it that," X replied, although he didn't sound offended.

"Why there?"

He hung his head. "They've cleared me of the Nightmare infection, we're sure, but I keep having flashback to those voices. We've already cleared that it's not a physical problem, nor a data corruption. So it must all be in my mind, my memory playing tricks on me. That doesn't make it any less painful."

"You said you were going to work through that."

"I thought I could, but it's not working. Some of the voices were people here, even you, only twisted about. It's making it even tougher to work around everyone every day. So I'm going elsewhere, where I don't know anyone, just until I sort out the mess in my mind. After that, I'm not sure what I'll do."

Zero glanced at him. "Well there is one problem with you quitting."

X looked back to him. "That it leaves just you as the only virus resistant reploid?"

"Well besides that. If you quit, then the law states that we can never hire you again, even if you volunteer."

"I might not want to come back."

"And you might want to come back some time, if another viral war breaks out. If you were to fill out a retirement form and get medical to sign it, we can then rehire you should the situation require it."

X sighed. "I should have considered that. But that's why I need to get out of here, as my sense of judgment is clouded."

"I looked into it. The medical retirement form isn't too long and once you get the sign off from Lifesaver or whoever, you're free to go to your hospital. Getting you back on active duty might be a hassle, but by then, you should be able to handle it yourself."

"Right. Thanks for taking my side in this. And, sorry about the whole trying to get you to kill me deal."

Zero shook his head and stood up. "It's no trouble. You don't need to worry about me."

* * *

Helping X through the medical retirement papers, Zero couldn't help but think that if he had contacted the Maverick Hunters sooner instead of wandering off in his own funk, then X would not have been as messed up by the Nightmares as he was. Maybe that was just a futile regret. Maybe it was the truth.

Whatever the truth was, Zero knew that he wasn't going to turn away and try to hide from this any more.

* * *

_This particular story is based in an AU where Sigma was killed off permanently at the end of X5, due to the EMP bombing mentioned. I figure that viral form Sigma cannot resist it, but Zero could because he still had enough of his protective armor left, or the important parts were shielded. Otherwise, wouldn't lightning based attacks have a chance of inflicting instant-death?_

_So if Sigma died then, what of games 6 and 7? Well 6, as you've seen, has Sigma as one of X's delusions from the Nightmare virus. X gets messed up from that, so he retires, spends some time away from the Hunters, then returns to work in less active jobs. In 7 (so I've heard), X is acting as a navigator/operator until Axl convinces him back on active duty. I would suppose there is a longer period between 6 and 7 than usual. And Sigma in 7 is actually Lumine; we know he can do that. This would also assume that the oldest Next Gen reploids (aside from the prototype Axl) are new or recently active in the time 7 takes place in. Sigma in 8 is either Lumine, or Lumine messing with everyone by using a replica. Lumine's a bit of a mysterious character, so that could be plausible._

_Of course, if they happen to release an X9 with Sigma as the big bad again, that kind of messes this theory up… but who cares? That's why I label this theory of mine with the AU setting._

_Please note that I am not an expert on quantum physics and I just read about these things as they interest me. There is some precedent for the 7 dimensional programming in that Bassnium, Dark Energy, and a few other things are said to operate on 'other dimensions'. That may mean other worlds/realities/realms, but could also be used for different dimensions of reality, the curled up ones that some scientists are theorizing about. The number of such dimensions is higher than 7 (I want to say 19), but 7 is a nice number to work with. Plus, the problem of the free-floating viral 'energies' has always fascinated/frustrated me in trying to explain them._

_The reason X perceived Zero as a girl, well let's just say the idea snuck into my head and kept hounding me until I used it. It's still bugging me, though…_


End file.
